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Mormonism

One of Australia's fastest growing minority religions, Mormonism has been represented in Melbourne since the first missionaries arrived in the early 1850s. However, 72 early converts left for Utah in 1855, and the missionaries followed in 1857. The Latter-day Saints returned in 1869 but converts continued to emigrate to Utah. In 1922 the first chapel was built in East Melbourne, and a women's relief society was organised. Postwar growth led to the creation of Melbourne stake in 1960, and the opening of a temple in Wantirna South in 2000. The church's genealogical centres are well-known to Melbourne's family historians.